FALL= don't quite yet on those gardens!

A lot of times we struggle to find plants that are still adding amazing benefits to our gardens. But as a landscape designer, I know that not only am I looking for an interest in the flower, but I look at the fruit, the bark, the seeds, etc. and begin to realize that plants if placed in the right spots truly could give us that unbelievable Fall punch of color and beauty. In the five minutes walking out around my office here at W.D. Wells & Associates, I have found five plantings that are still unwilling to throw in the towel, in fact some of these plantings are just coming into true form. Take a look!

WINTERBERRY HOLLY

PAPERBARK MAPLE

ENDLESS SUMMER HYDRANGEA

MUMS

MORNING LIGHT MISCANTHUS (Maiden Grass)

Architecture and Gardens

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."-- Thomas Jefferson

As I design I come into the mind frame as I work with clients at W.D. Wells, the value of importance into each of my designs of connecting the architectural structure with the garden. That the architecture compliments the plantings and the plantings compliment the architecture. The two go side by side. So many times the landscape goes in and is not thought about as it grows and hides important features of the home, such as rock walls or windows to allow in sunlight.(As in these two pictures) As I walk into each meeting with my clients, I educate them saying that we are preparing to design a garden that will grow, change and will need adequate room to allow it to mature into its fullest potential.

As I design, I begin to think about how plantings will "highlight" certain areas of the home. I want to bring the house into scale with plantings, but I do not want to hide key features. I also understand the importance of placement. What do I mean by this...

5 Quick Tips for all you gardeners out there....

1.) Know the size of your plant material you are bringing in, know that in 5 years, your plant may go from 2' to 15' and still be able to fit into its spot

2.) Spacing of other planting material, that beds fill in but not overcrowd...big difference!

3.) Sun vs shade, know plants and there suitable spots around the home, you plant it close to a white stucco wall in full sun, know that it has a possibility of burning because of the intense heat being reflected from that wall

4.) Know your soil conditions, high PH low PH, wet or dry, acidic or not acidic

5.) Look up! look at possible rock facade on house or windows that could eventually be hid or blocked, think about a decidious tree leaves dropping into the rain gutters when its planted close to the house.

New pond with older roots...

Every so often we dream of sitting around the pond on a warm summers day casting our fishing line and hoping of catching the "big one" with the crickets chirping and and the gentle warm breeze at our backs. Well, it just so happened that idea came to life with another client, they desired a place to sit, relax and enjoy the sound of water. Now all they needed was a water source and a spot on their 18 acre property to have this pond installed. Well, we found an area that had great clay soil to be compacted to hold the water, a natural spring fed water source underground and easy accessibility to create this dream!

We began by cutting and filling the area into the size and shape the client had wanted. As we began to dig we had more than enough clay soil to begin to create the dam. As the dam was being created we brought in a stone mason to accurately install a 10' x 8' spill way that included wings to hold back the volume of water within the pond. Our ideas was for it to be natural and fit into its surroundings so we included a stone source close to home, to bring in brown stone with blue stone caps. It turned out great!

Next, the client had dreams of including a small "shack" with a dock overlooking the pond, for the grand kids to sit and cast their fishing lines. The dream came to reality as we built a shack that took on a old style look, with mushroom boards for the siding, sheet metal from a 150 year old barn from the Chester County area and boulders to support the foundation of the dock itself. This shack truly is one-of-a-kind! To sit on the front porch(dock) and overlook the pond with the gentle sound of water flowing over the dam has got to be one of the most peaceful things I have heard in quite a while!

The client has even installed an outhouse within feet of the shack to give more of that country feel. Surrounding the pond are benches and planters made from 80 year old Ash as well as sections of split rail fence.

The plantings are just beginning to be installed....variegated Deodar Cedar, Hosta, Ferns, Fothergilla, Cutleaf Green Maple and Butterbar(Petasites japonica) have all ready been planted. The Butterbar is a unbelievably large tropical looking leaf plant that loves wet feet and spreads very fast in shady spots! Be careful of this guy, it will take over your garden quickly if not under control!

You've been inspired, now get out and dig!

This Weekend, Spring = Summer?

Its end of April and we are just about to get into the high 80's this weekend...too soon? Well when you've been in the 50's & 60's, cloudy and damp for the past three weeks, you take whatever comes your way. A lot is happening over the next several day's.

Springfest at Anson B. Nixon Park in Kennett Square, PA is going on from 10am to 3pm on Saturday. Come on out! You will find me there to help with design questions and selling plant material from Conard Pyle, plus the opportunity to play a round of disc golf afterwards always equals a good day!

Today I went down to Hoopes Park in West Chester, PA and attended Arbor Day. There W.D. Wells and Associates provided two Dawn Redwood's(Metasequoia glyptostroboides) as to honor Mayor Dick Yoder and Honorable Barbara McIlvaine Smith. With about 40 people in attendance with a 70 degree sunny day, there was a lot of excitement in the air as West Chester was recognized by being associated with Tree City USA for 20 years!


Until the next blog, I hope you all have a great weekend and get out in those gardens!

Climbing Vines in the Delaware Valley

We all at some point in our gardens we tend to be on the hunt for something that can soften or hide a particular structure in our garden such as a fence or a wall of stucco. Or maybe we are not really looking to "hide" anything but we actually want to accentuate a particular wall, fence or structure. We tend to usually stick with what we know and just stick shrubs in front of it or when friends come into the garden we tell them every time "its a work in progress", which literally has been a work a progress and will always be a work in progress, it just sounds good to say that at the time to make them think, we have some grand scheme to enhance to make it look like Longwood Gardens!

I think most times I say climbing vine, people usually get scared, because they think it requires a ton of maintenance or they say they never have luck with climbing vines. The KEY is to not let it get out of control! The more you just "nip" back at a vine and force it to go in the direction you want the easier it will and the more receptive it will be to you. You always want to prune back to a new bud(see diagram). Most vines that lose their leaves, you can prune back hard in winter and very early spring. But you can keep up with your vines all year by just "nip" pruning or "pinching" off the leaders of the vine which than allows you to control where it grows.

Vines can make a dramatic statement in your garden, but as a designer as I talk with my client, I rarely ever think vines in the design if the first words out of their mouth are "no maintenance". So for all you true gardeners out there who appreciate a walk out in the garden at least once a month...these things are easy! The easiest thing to remember is, if you want it to flower, find a spot in your garden where it gets at least 6 hours of sun, if you don't care about the flowers and you just want a vine, you can find a spot a little deeper in the shade and most will take off, only with a little TLC at first of course.

Why "Not" live in and around Philly?! (picture proof)

As being a native from the Philadelphia area, I took a 5 year hiatus and moved to New York (click on to see where I spent my time) for a year, then onto Charlotte, North Carolina for a 4 years and than nearly 4 years ago, decided I missed it so much I had to move back. Here are just a couple reasons why...

Back yard entertaining area coming to life!

As I begin to work with my clients and their dreams for their home, I put myself in their spot every time and ask, "if this was my back yard, what would I want it too look like and how would I want it to feel" Every client of my is different and has completely different taste in what they like, in the materials they chose and the colors they pick out. This is why I love what I do and have the chance to work with that client and come up with a design that meets or exceeds their expectations.

This client of mine told me right off the bat, they love to entertain having their friend's and family over. They love the privacy that their back yard gives them and want to take full advantage of it. The also love the look of flagstone, but desire a Mediterranean feel. They wanted to incorporate a fire pit into the design, but didn't know where. They had lots of ideas, and needed a design to put all their thoughts down on paper and than eventually into the ground.

The ideas we came up with were installed and we introduced them to a Mountain Blue Flagstone with flagstone stair treads to match. We incorporated a concrete paver block that had grays and browns in it to tie in the flagstone. Instead of just having a 3' wall, I gave them an idea of setting the sitting wall 5" back to break up the transition of wall. It turned out to be quite a few more saw cuts but it looked phenomenal As we thought about a spot for the fire pit, I decided to highlight the all ready existing fireplace punch-out on the house and install a small raised vegetable/herb garden and three Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' in front of it. I designed it to be eye level so everyone could enjoy it and not be hidden by the walls. We brought in large brown river stone around the fire pit to give it more of a Mediterranean feel. The customer brought in some large pots with upright Junipers with river stone around the base to bring everything together.
I could not be happier nor my client with the results. With a flip of the switch they have instant fire and have more than enough room to host even the largest parties!

Planning of the Willowdale Steeplechase

For the past 3 years, I have just begun carrying a tradition every Mother's Day to plan and design the landscape for the Winners Circle on the day of the race as well as plantings for the Water Jump Ball and Auction on Friday night. It is a black tie fundraiser for a non-profit group that provides therapy to kids with special needs, a veterinary surgical facility that treated the Philly native, Barbaro after the Preakness Stakes race and a fresh water treatment facility.

I have really appreciated this race, and the fundraising that happens especially towards, Quest Therapeutic Services, Inc., since my little nephew, Luke who has special needs out in Park City, Utah has benefited and loved every moment of his therapy on a horse.

The company I am with now, W.D. Wells & Associates is bending over backwards to help this cause out, by volunteering all its time and energy to see this weekend take off. We will be providing the Winner's Circle where the champion horses will receive their pictures Sunday, and will also be providing decoration in way of trees for the tent, Friday night at he Water Jump Ball and Auction.

It's a great day to bring the family, tailgate from the back of your car with lunch, throw the football or frisbee and watch some pretty incredible races. W.D. Wells & Associates will also have an exhibit in the Shoppes Tent, so you can get more of an idea of who we are and what we are capable of of designing and building.

I am proud to be a part of The Willowdale Steeplechase and help in anyway possible in years to come.

Gardens just beginning to taking shape

I was out performing a check up on one of my clients properties yesterday and noticed the buds swelling significantly on a Syringa vulgaris (Common Lilac). I have two of these lilacs in positions in their garden off the staircase and close to the kitchen windows where the sweet fragrance from the flowers will permeate the whole room. These plants are extremely hardy and require tip pruning after bloom and also thinning of old wood every several years to promote vibrant growth. The Common Lilac came over from Europe to a gardener by the name of John Bartram and now has naturalized so much that it has become the state flower of New Hampshire. It desires a colder winter in order for it to be at its peak during bloom and just to really thrive. You can find this plant almost in every one of our mom's back yards now here in the Northeast, but still a favorite for me as a designer for at least one in the garden.

I just installed a new boulder walkway for this customer as well to their back outdoor kitchen and the sod has done well over the winter and will begin to blend in nicely later on this season. This natural walkway is a great transition from upper patio to the lower patio, and a easy maintenance free walk where the customer is able to mow right over. They had some concerns with a septic leach field in their back yard and this gave us an opportunity to not dig too deep besides lay the stone base and the boulder itself. It also gave us the chance to give the boulder walk a natural curve around the field.

Here is the front walkway, in which we covered his concrete pad out the front door and brought in a more formal look for the front. We used a natural multi-color flagstone with a paver to tie in the backyard patio paver's.

Up to Boston

I had went up to Boston the other weekend, and really had not expected to be that nice of weekend, but it was probably the nicest weekend I had seen so far this Spring. It was a warm 65 degrees as I went to see my girlfriend and her old college roommate from Univ. of Pitt. and her husband. They hosted us incredibly well as we traveled all around Boston, walked the Freedom trail for maybe 3 minutes, if that and went down into Boston's Common. It reminded me a lot like Central Park in New York, as it proudly displayed its arboretum. I was impressed being from a suburb of Philly, Boston was incredibly clean and it took great pride in making sure of that. I had an great time there walking into Cheers to grabbing lunch and walking down Newburry Street taking in all the sights and realizing that Simon and Pierce was a franchise, little did I know after seeing it in the heart and center of Newburry St. The only thing I did not like architecturally was their government building. You decide for yourself and let me know what you think being smacked dab right into the heart of historic city.